Ugh

Remember when I was so happy and excited because I was able to tutor a student in math? Well, said student really made progress, but because I was essentially starting from ground zero in geometry skills, it was pretty challenging to cover a lot of basic information in a few hours. The student made progress. I found out recently, however, that the student did not pass the test for which we were preparing. Well, I did my best and fulfilled my contractual obligations, so I didn't worry about it too much, but when the student's parent contacted me with some more math issues, I tried to be helpful, so I offered a list of suggestions for possible reasons for the failure, and things to do to address them. Since I don't know a lot about the student's history and situation, I mentioned a variety of possibilities. I honestly tried to be tactful and helpful.
I got a moderately angry reply from the parent, telling me that I shouldn't make assumptions, and had no right to say what I did, etc. etc. etc. Well, if my suggestions are unhelpful, I don't care if people disregard them, and/or just don't want to look into them. It's a free country, and I willingly gave free advice (didn't charge them for my time), so it doesn't offend me if people don't like my suggestions. It's difficult to actually offend me, believe it or not. It is, however, quite easy to annoy me, and it annoys me when people go off half-cocked. I never made absolute statements, or told the parent that such-and-such HAD to be done, so I thought it was clear that my suggestions were just that: suggestions. Yeesh.
I sent back what I think is a nicely worded, diplomatic note that offers reasons why I said some of the things that I did (and had made one unwarranted assumption, so I admitted to it), and emphasized that my intent was to be helpful, and if my suggestions were not applicable or helpful, they could and should be freely disregarded. Maybe I didn't adequately communicate the casualness of my suggestions in my first e-mail, so I tried to emphasize them in the second. I think the fact that I consider certain things to be obvious and logical might occasionally become a problem when they are not obvious and logical to others. Have I ever mentioned that I SUCK at dealing with people? It is not really that I'm thoughtless; it's mostly because it just doesn't occur to me that people won't read between the lines of my dry written communication, or that they will be more in tune with their feelings than their (or their children's) grasp of y=mx+b or the Pythagorean theorem.
But if I ever become one of those uptight homeschool mothers who think that everyone is out to get me, you have my permission to lock me in a room and throw volumes of Plato at me until I come to my senses.
And if I live many more years and still suck at dealing with people, you should likewise lock me in a room and throw volumes of Plato at me.
Well, you know what? I still love teaching math, and I know I'm good at it. Everything else, as the saying goes, is just details.